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MSFS2020 MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR RELEASE TIMES

If you purchased the simulator via the Microsoft Store, you will be able to start downloading MSFS on a rolling release depending on your timezone. Please identify your country below to see what time the sim will unlock for you.

If you purchased the simulator via Steam, you will be able to download at 04:00 UTC ( August 18, 12:00am EST) universally across all countries.

Also, watch out for some incredible giveaways on our socials this week! We have partnered with some amazing companies and have a ton of swag to give away. Happy launch week, and happy flying!

AUGUST 17, 2020

10:00 UTC

Kiribati

11:00 UTC

American Samoa, The Marshall Islands, Mauru, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, The United States Minor Outlying Islands, Wallis and Futuna

12:00 UTC

Antarctica, Fiji, New Zealand 

13:00 UTC

New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu

14:00 UTC

Australia, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, The Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea

15:00 UTC

Japan, The Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Palau, Timor-Leste

16:00 UTC

Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan

17:00 UTC

Cambodia, Christmas Island, Indonesia, The Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Thailand, Viet Nam

17:30 UTC

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Myanmar

18:00 UTC

Bangladesh, Bhutan, The British Indian Ocean Territory, Kyrgyzstan

18:15 UTC

Nepal

18:30 UTC

India, Sri Lanka

19:00 UTC

The French Southern Territories, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

19:30 UTC

Afghanistan

20:00 UTC

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Mauritius, Oman, Qatar, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Seychelles, The United Arab Emirates, Yemen

21:00 UTC 

Åland Islands, Belarus, The Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mayotte, The Republic of Moldova, Palestine, Romania, The Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Republic of Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine

22:00 UTC

Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Eswatini, France, Germany, Gibraltar, The Holy See, Hungary, Italy, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Republic of North Macedonia, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Svalbard  and Jan Mayen, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe

23:00 UTC

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, The Central African Republic, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Kongo, The Congo, Equatorial Guinea, The Faroe Islands, Gabon, Isle of Man,  Ireland, Morocco, The Niger, Nigeria, Portugal, Saint Helena, Ascension, and the Tristan da Cunha, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

AUGUST 18, 2020

00:00 UTC

Bouvet Island, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Greenland, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, Jersey, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo

01:00 UTC

Cabo Verde, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

03:00 UTC

Anguilla, Anguilla and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Dominica, Brazil (BRT), The Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Martinique, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Virgin Islands (U.S.)

04:00 UTC

The Bahamas, Brazil (AMT), Plurinational State of Bolivia, Canada, The Cayman Islands, Chile, Curaçao, The Falkland Islands, Georgia, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, The Turks and Caicos Islands, The United States of America (Eastern), Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

05:00 UTC

Belize, Brazil (ACT), Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, The United States of America (Central)

07:00 UTC

Pitcairn, The United States of America (Western)

10:00 UTC

The Cook Islands French Polynesia

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FS2020 Development Update – December 19th, 2019

SDK UPDATE

  • SDK – Preview Version release moved back to mid-January.
  • SDK – Official V1 release expected March 2020.

We’ve made great progress on the SDK in recent weeks and are confident that an initial preview version will be ready as early as mid-January. The preview version will allow interested 3rd party developers to have a first look at the SDK, provide feedback and send requests / wishes to help us prioritize the work moving forward (similar to the Tech Alpha process).This is by no means an official V1 release – we expect that to be ready March 2020.

FEEDBACK SNAPSHOT

We’ve posted the first draft of the Feedback Snapshot in the Insider Area! This document is still being worked on so expect another update in a few weeks that contains additional information regarding the progress being made on each entry.

Next update – 01.09!

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team

MEDIA UPDATE

This week we’d like to spotlight a few user submitted screenshots from Tech Alpha!

Screenshot credit – U/z32ands30
Screenshot credit – U/rwflush
Screenshot credit – U/NotoriousBPG
Screenshot credit – U/SebastianShain
Screenshot credit – U/rwflush
Screenshot credit – U/NotoriousBPG
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FS2020 Insider Update – December 12th 2019

POSTED BY: MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR TEAM

DR UPDATE (January/February Preview)

MEDIA UPDATE

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FS2020 Development Update December 12th, 2019

MEDIA UPDATE

We’ve posted some new screenshots in the Insider Area. Head inside to check them out!

PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT SERIES UPDATE

We visited Cubcrafters with François, one of the pilots and aircraft aerodynamicists from our team, to go over the XCub’s simulation.

We fine tuned the engine’s power curve and adjusted the aircraft’s mass distribution and control surface limits and were able to get a very realistic handling.

We also improved the prop wash effect on the tail in order to get a more realistic power on handling, especially on the ground and at low speeds.

Each one of us also had the luck to fly a real-world Carbon Cub and had the chance to compare the real-world aircraft with the sim. This helped make some more improvements of the control surface elasticity and input curves of the yoke.

Another interesting thing:

Their test pilot flew the XCUB in the sim to their usual strips in the area. Particularly one located on Rimrock lake, the Tieton State Airport, where he did multiple landings and takoffs. The test pilot was very happy about how close the sim was in comparison on his usual flights out of this strip with the real aircraft. A specific ridge for example can just be flown over climbing at max power after takeoff and it was exactly the same in the sim!

  • Sebastian Wloch

DR UPDATE

January/February preview of the DR has been posted in the Insider Area. Make sure to head in and check it out, especially if you’re a fan of the Feature Discovery series. 

TECH ALPHA 2

Recruitment for Tech Alpha 2 is now closed. If you have not registered for participation and would like to join the testing effort, we will be opening another round of recruitment mid-January. We are still finalizing the date for when Tech Alpha 2 invitations will be sent out but expect an update in January. In the meantime, our goal regarding participation remains the same – if you want to participate in early build testing and have registered (e.g. Tech Alpha 1, Tech Alpha 2, etc.), you are going to get access. The team is actively working to get additional people build access as quickly as possible. So stay tuned!

Next update – 12.19!

Sincerely,

Microsoft Flight Simulator Team